The present invention relates to multicolor printers, and more particularly, to a multicolor printer which can print characters, figures, patterns, etc. by collection of dots in which a plurality of colors are combined.
In an information processing system using a computer, output data such as characters, figures and the like put out from a processor are, in most cases, displayed on a display device such as a CRT display. Also, recently, this display is achieved in a color form, which is widely used particularly for a solid display of spherical bodies, a display of temperature distribution and tomography of plane bodies, and the like because a color display therefor is suitable. On the other hand, with such a color display, there has been a growing need in which color data is not only merely displayed on the display but also when it is desired as a visual data, a hard copy is obtained to record and keep it so that the data may be seen repeatedly.
To achieve the aforesaid need, in the past, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 53-82526, for example, has proposed an arrangement wherein a plurality of ink ribbons by color are provided, and said ink ribbons are selectively moved towards wire heads or type heads to select a color. As a further proposal, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 56-33972, for example, has proposed an arrangement wherein a peripheral surface of a platen is axially divided into a plurality of sections, a plurality of color inks are permeated into said divided sections, and the platen is rotated towards type elements to select a color.
Such prior art techniques have disadvantages in that since selection of colors to be printed is effected mechanically, the operation is slow, that particularly when color is desired to be changed for each dot as in graphic data, it takes a considerable time, and that a printing mechanism is severely worn to shorten the service life of the printer.